A reading guide to comics and books

Tag: Marvel (Page 1 of 2)

In the beginning of this blog, I was motivated by doing long and comprehensive reading guide, especially for comics. It’s time to get back at it with a big chunk of Spider-Man recent history.

Spider-Man by Dan Slott, The Longest run

Dan Slott took over in 2010. Before that, he was one of the multiple writers who tried to put Peter Parker back on his feet following the disastrous One More Day storyline.

Dan Slott knows Spider-Man’s history and how to use it. He used it to redefine old enemies, to develop new ones and to take the story where it never went before. This is a comprehensive reading order, following mostly TPB editions, not issues on issues.

It’s the end of the Secret Empire event, it’s time to get to the reading guide :

What is Secret Empire?

Big Marvel crossover published between April and September 2017, Secret Empire is one of thoses Universe Redefining massive event.

Of course, the most important thing here is that Captain America is a f***ing Hydra Agent! That was unexpected, to say the least, but we knew it before the event took place. So, we are not as surprised as his friends when he made his move and took control of America. Now, the ones who escaped the first assault must organize the resistance movement and fight the occupation. It’s long and transformative, as you may have guessed.

It seems that the news MCU movie, Thor: Ragnarok will integrate some bits and pieces from the World War Hulk storyline. It’s a good time to revisit it.

What is World War Hulk?

Written by Greg Pak with John Romita, Jr. as penciller, World War Hulk is a comic book crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in 2007.

The story began with another story called Planet Hulk that started when a Gamma bomb causes the Hulk to lose control and attack Las Vegas. After that, the Illuminati decide the Hulk is too dangerous to remain on Earth and they trick him into leaving the planet. Everything didn’t go as planned. Hulk’s shuttle crashed on the planet Sakaar where he was taken into slavery and forced to fight gladiator battles for the planet’s emperor.

Now, he’s coming back on Earth and he wants vengeance. The World War Hulk begins.

I wrote some time ago a reading guide for the Clone Conspiracy. Since then, I wanted to do the same for another one of the big Spider-man event by Dan Slott, The Spider-verse. So, here we go…

What is the Spider-Verse event?

In almost all the universe, there’s a Spider-Man. In a 2014 Marvel Event named Spider-verse, all the Spider-Men were attacked by Morlun and his family, the Inheritors.

Written by Dan Slott, the storyline really began a few years ago during J. Michael Straczynski’s Coming Home story. Now, the Inheritors started to kill all of the spider-men in order to feed on their force. Some spiders started to jump from one universe to the other, saving the one they can in order to built an army. Soon, our own Peter Parker and the other spider-heroes from universe 616 joined the fight to stop the Inheritors once and for all.

There are a lot of new adaptations of comics coming our way in the months to come. One of them is Marvel’s The Runaways. If you don’t know them yet, here is your guide to change that. But first…

Who are the Runaways ?

The Runaways are a group of six teenagers who discover that their parents are part of an evil crime organization known as “The Pride”. Not cool right? The teens stole weapons and resources from their parents and go on the run. Soon, they learn they themselves inherited their parents’ powers.

At first, I thought that Gwenpool was Lady Deadpool, but she is not. When I read about her story, I wanted to discover her books immediately, but where to start? Good question, here is the answer! But first…

Who is Gwenpool?

At one point, Marvel had fun with Gwen Stacy on the covers of a certain number of issues, delivering fun reimaginations of the famous Spider-Man character (because Spider-Gwen looks so cool). One of them was on the cover of Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars #2 in June 2015. At that time, Gwenpool was not in any story, but she was already a popular character.

Like Deadpool, Gwenpool is a fourth wall-breaking character. Gwen Poole is a character from ‘the real world’ and knows that she is in a Marvel comic book. She got her own costume and started to use here knowledge to fight crime, believing that her actions are pretty much without any consequences. Of course, she had no training and mostly improvise.

As you probably have heard by now, there will be a Captain Marvel movie from Marvel Studios in the near future. For one second when I heard the news about this movie, I thought of Mar-Vell, but turns out that they will go with Miss Marvel herself, Carol Danvers. Why not Monica Rambeau or Phyla-Vell if they wanted a female Cap Marv? Who knows? I’ll come back for a more detailed article about Carol Danvers soon, but I thought it would be a good idea to write about all the previous Captains before.

Who is Captain Marvel?

As I was saying, the first Captain Marvel was Mar-vell, but more people took up the mantle after him – And I’m not talking about the one from DC Comics of course.

At the beginning, the first Captain Marvel was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (published in December 1967). Captain Mar-Vell of the Kree Imperial Militia was sent to observe Earth and eventually became a friend, and the Kree Empire branded him a traitor.

After him, more people became Captain Marvel. For some, there was not a real connection with the original. Some were from his family. Let see where to start with each one of them.

Unlike a character like Spider-Man, Marvel’s Black Panther doesn’t have a great track record. There are good stories, but there are more bad or just forgettable ones. And a lot has not been collected yet. But let’s try anyway to explore the character.

Who is Black Panther?

First things first, Black Panther probably needs an introduction. He already appeared in the MCU and will have his own movie soon. For now, let’s go back to 1966 when he made his first appearance in Fantastic Four #52. Created by Stan Lee and the great Jack Kirby, Black Panther is known to be the first black superhero in mainstream comic books.

The Black Panther is a title that is given to the chief of the Panther Tribe of the advanced African nation of Wakanda. He’s more than a symbol or a superhero, he is head of state.

Under the mask, we find T’Challa who earned the title of the Black Panther by defeating the various champions of the Wakandan tribes. After that, he led his country in a fruitful direction, amassing money and power.

T’Challa was once a member of the Avengers, but also Daredevil. But those are long stories to tell.

Marvel is all about legacy characters nowadays. That’s not always handled well, except for Kate Bishop, the second Hawkeye. She’s awesome and she finally got some love with her own series. Sadly, before that, it was not perfect for her.

Who’s Kate Bishop, the Superior Hawkeye?

Kate is heir to the Bishop fortune, being the daughter of publishing magnate Derek Bishop. Sometime after her mother died, Kate was attacked in Central Park. After that, she began to train hard and started to school herself in the arts of archery and other types of combat. She was determined to help others.

When Kate met the Young Avengers during her older sister’s wedding – when gunmen took the entire church hostage – she decided with Cassie Lang to join the team and that’s where her new career started.

Writing reading guides for some minor characters, I realized how unhelpful this kind of approach will be for major ones. It’s especially the case with Spider-Man my favorite Marvel Superhero. I think I’ll come back to write about specific storylines, but to start, I think it’s better to go with a guide to the best entry points in Peter Parker’s long and eventful life.

Who is Spider-man?

Well, I don’t know who can ask something like that, but if you lived in a cave during the last half-century, Spider-Man is a superhero in the Marvel Universe.

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Spidey first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 published in August 1962. His secret identity is Peter Parker and, when everything began, he was a high school student raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City.

When Peter was bitten by a radioactive spider at a science exhibit, he acquired arachnid-like capabilities – a great agility, proportionate strength and even a sixth sense to detect danger. First, he used his powers to gain money, but he had to learn the hard way that with great power comes great responsibility when his uncle is killed by a man he didn’t stop when he had the chance.

After that, Spidey began to fight crime while helping his aunt with a job at the Daily Bugle.

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